By Rebecca Hall
They looked like kids in a candy shop, uttering phrases like, “Whoa!” and “It’s humongous,” as they viewed the basketball courts in the Student Activities Center.
At times they were teenage girls, giggling as a boy walked past and breaking into dance in the middle of the sidewalk.
Other moments, they were young students, intently curious about their education. They posed questions such as, “What would you go in to if you wanted to be a vet?” and “Can you go to school while in the service?”
Olmsted Academy South, an all-girls middle school in south Louisville, made a campus visit to the University of Louisville Feb. 27. The group of 90 eighth grade girls was participants in GEAR UP, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, a federal grant intended to provide college awareness and preparedness to low-income students.
“I didn’t really know what college was all about and we came here and we got to see what it’s really about,” said Alexis Ferrell, eighth grader from Olmsted Academy South. “My favorite part was talking to the students. They told us to keep our social life and academic life separated, or you can do both and still do good.”
April Riles, a freshman communication major and member of USHR, Undergraduate Students Helping Recruit, led the girls on a campus tour and participated in the student panel where the eighth graders were encouraged to ask questions.
“My mom has always taught me start early. So the earlier you’re exposed to the information that you need to know then the more likely you’ll probably go to college and the more prepared you’ll be,” Riles said. “I told them during the tour, use your resources, your teachers, your guidance counselors, your principal. They all really want to help you.”
GEAR UP works with three middle schools in Louisville, which include Lassiter, Thomas Jefferson and Olmsted Academy South, as well as Iroquois High School, Southern High School and Fairdale High School. GEAR UP is a six year grant that lasts through 2011 and will serve 1,700 Louisville students.
“Our mission is to help low-income and at-risk students become prepared for post-secondary education. So all the activities we do including the campus visits are to help these students prepare,” said Jenni Edwards, Project Director for GEAR UP. “It’s called awareness activities when you do a campus visit or mentoring but we also do things to help improve the academic rigor in the schools so students are more academically prepared for college. We try to engage parents because when you’re working with at-risk populations, often time’s parents are a little less hands-on with their children’s education,” Edwards said.
Edwards recruits U of L students to serve as mentors in the school sit on student panels and give tours during the campus visits. Slidana Holthouser, a senior psychology major, has served as a mentor to GEAR UP students for the past year.
“It’s really rewarding but at the same time it’s really frustrating because you see potential and you see where society kind of puts that speed bump for them and it’s not fair,” Holthouser said. “That’s one of the major obstacles, you’re saying you can go to college and the parents are saying ‘How am I going to afford that?'”
While all eighth graders in the GEAR UP program visit U of L’s campus, Edwards said the goal is to get these students to continue their education beyond high school, whether they attend a two-year, four-year, technical or vocational school.
“Research indicates that the more often a student gets on a college campus, the more likely they are to go,” Edwards said. “My goal is sustainability in the schools because what we’re really trying to do is create a college-going culture in the schools.”
“Many of the girls have never had the experience of being on a college campus before,” said Ken Jamos, a substitute teacher at Olmsted Academy South. “I had one young lady that said ‘Why am I here?’ Now she’s sitting up in the front of the line learning as much as she can about the campus.”
